Valencia Vacation...

Well, I´m down to the last few days... and are they ever magical! I am staying in an amazing hotel in Valencia. The beach is beautiful, and the city is amazing.

I left from Salamanca on Thursday afternoon. I literally ran from class, to my piso to pick up luggage, to the train station. I made it with about 15 minutes to spare (which is more than I can say for a friend of mine that missed the train altogether!). Anyway, the train ride to Madrid was pretty uneventful. I arrived to one station, took the metro to another station. At the train station, I got a tortilla sandwich and headed out on the second leg of the journey. I mention the sandwich because given the journey, I would have been in rough shape had I not made time to each in Madrid.

About 20-minutes out of Valencia, the train started making this horrible noise. It turned out that we hit a bicycle. Small detail... there was a person on the bicycle. Can you imagine??? I´ll spare you the details! Anyway, several HOURS later, we made our way to Valencia. Of course, the Spanish custom of smoking didn´t fall to the way-side... my nice smoke free train became a bar scene without ventilation in no time. It was pretty horrible! Long story short, I arrived in Valencia at 3am.

However, from that point forward, the trip here has been AMAZING! I have enjoyed several museums, an amazing trip to the cathedral (they claim that the ORIGINAL cup used by Jesus at the last supper is there... hmmm, not sure I buy it!!). Anyway, the architecture of the city is really something. There are several modern buildings that are just incredible! Then, there is a historic area of town with super old buildings. I saw the central market, the post office (don´t laugh... that was INCREDIBLE!) and a couple of other really neat old places.

Don´t worry, I also managed to see the beach! The sand is so smooth and the Mediterranean Sea is warm! The sun was out in full strength. I feel very glad about the decision to stay here for a couple of days. Yea, it´s touristic of me to do... but after all this travel, I really needed a break. It has been nice to lay around and enjoy the sun.

I hope to get a day or two of relaxation at home too, before work kicks in too intensely. We´ll see... it´s all going to depend on me, and whether or not I remember to take care of myself -- and give myself the time I will need to adjust to good old America. :)

I hope that all is well back home. And, I hope Zoie keeps scaring the skunks away. ;)

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